TheMagicEight
New member
This is partly in response for a settings request and partly because I wanted to organize a rough guide to the 101b. Hope it helps someone!
It's been about 1 1/2 years since I bought my Ecstasy. I've learned a lot, and in this thread I'm going to post what I do to make my 101b sound its absolute best.
Settings:
Green
This channel is much better than a lot of people give it credit for. I find with the right combination of gear, it pulls off some excellent clean tones.
Brightness & Gain - B1 here, no contest. B2 is very shrill and N too lifeless. Set the channel up with B1 and turn the gain up just before breakup. You get the V6 preamp tube working a little bit, with just enough compression to fill in the notes.
TMB - You'll want to adjust these settings to taste, obviously, but here's an important hint: don't turn the mids down too low! It may sound good by itself, but in context of the Blue and Red channels, will not work. Moreover, you need mids to be heard in a mix. Apart from that, don't add too much bass and you're set.
Presence & Excursion - Adding presence to this channel can be a great idea. If you find a lack of shimmer with the gain turned up a little higher, use presence to make up for it. This way, you still get your nice chimey clean tone with your compression. It stays lush instead of brittle. I find T excursion to work best at higher volumes. If you do want to accent the lower mids, M or even L will work, but watch your bass knob and turn your presence up.
Blue & Red
These channels are where it's at for me. I don't find any advantage in setting them up differently from each other, minus a few adjustments, but I have more to say on their application after listing settings.
Brightness - B2 is what I like best. It seems to focus on a frequency higher than what most guitars will accentuate, and contributes to how the amp opens up. It also seems to give a bit more definition to palm mutes and makes for an excellent chug. B1 - because it focuses on a frequency that guitars accentuate - is great for providing lots of gain. I find the overall tone to be less appealing than B2 - namely more fizz, compressed, nasally, etc. - but if for some reason I needed more gain - which the boosted Red channel on B2 has more than enough for me - I would consider B1. Or, if I had a hopelessly dark guitar with weak pickups, it might be a decent alternative. N sounds good too, but only if used carefully. A dark guitar will create mud here, and it will be least useful for very high gain. I might use N if I had, for example, a very bright Strat that I wasn't trying to OD too much. Read purring blues. For 90% of my applications though, it's B2. Not only does it sound excellent, but it seems to really bring out the best feel and tone of each guitar. Awesome.
Gain - With the brightness switches engaged, the tone gets brighter as you turn the gain knob down. If you need lower gain for either channel, N or B2 will probably sound best. Since I primarily use B2, I typically turn my gain knobs up pretty high. In the Blue channel, I like unboosted blue to sound best with the neck position of my guitars so that they're just past breakup. With single coils, this puts my gain at 3:00. Humbuckers end up between 1:30 and 3:00, towards 3:00 if I want more chunk with the bridge pickup. For blending purposes, I usually run Red gain a little lower than Blue. Typically, I'll set Red up around 2:00 and this brings me into perfect solo territory with the boost.
TMB - How you set these controls depends largely on the room and cab of your choice. A rule of thumb I use is to listen to the amp from as many angles as possible. I will usually, though, run the controls here or somewhere close: 11:00 T, 1:00 M, 12:00 B. I love mids, but I don't want so much that the feel of the amp diminishes. 1:00 is a sweet spot for me, but up to 2:30 still sounds great to my ears. Just depends on the situation! I find that if I leave mids at 1:00 though, I can set treble and bass around mids and it'll work out well.
Excursion & Presence - I group these controls because of how I run them. At low volumes, I find M or L excursion can fill out the amp well, but I then need to turn up presence to compensate. When I'm running the amp at a medium to higher volume, T gives off that nice, upper mid bite. I'd compare it to a Marshall, but it's the voice of the Ecstasy, not the JCM800. When I do this, I can turn presence up to noon without getting too bright, but find that it sounds better completely off. On the whole, I've found that raising the excursion to L or M forces you to raise Treble. Essentially, you're lowering upper mids since you're raising everything else. That has its place, but I prefer the upper mid bite.
Blue & Red Use -Important to note is that there are fewer gain stages in the Blue channel than Red. I've found that when the two channels are set up to have the same amount of gain (boosted Blue vs. unboosted Red), this translates to a slightly more open sound in the Blue channel. Since I set up boosted Blue to have about the same amount of gain as unboosted Red (out of coincidence, not deliberate), I'll use Blue for more neck pickup work and Red for bridge. Of course, there's not much of a difference and for a gig I wouldn't worry about it, but it's helpful in a recording situation.
Plexi Mode - Sometimes I'll run a lower gain set and replace the Red channel with Plexi mode. I find that this sounds best for stuff right on the brink of breakup. Then I can have completely clean on the Green channel, Red for Plexi, and Blue for medium to somewhat higher gain. Works great! You can set Blue up to sound like Plexi, but because Plexi has even fewer gain stages than the Blue channel (2 vs Blue's 3), it has a different feel.
Cabinet:
4x12s sound best. End of story. I've played through a few and for me, the Bogner sounds better than the others (as it should), though many other sound damn good. I use G12Ms in mine and it's a match made in heaven. For other cab and speaker use, the only thing I would change is the TMB controls. These are very effective in making different cabs sound great, and while the other controls can change tone drastically, I like to think of them as creating the feel of the amp rather than how much bass or treble is in my tone. At the very least, I'd start with TMB before messing with anything else. It's worked well for me so far.
Guitars and Pickups:
This one is tricky. Any type of guitar will theoretically sound great with this amp, but finding the right setup isn't always easy. This is partly because of how revealing the Ecstasy is. On the whole though, I've had more trouble with overly bright guitars than dark. Don't underestimate the power in the gain knob. Some guitars I've used that are way too bright with lower gain have worked out really well with higher gain. Another trick I use to get bright guitars to thicken up is to lower the pickups. Bring them away from the strings as you bring the gain up, and you should get a much more desirable, less brittle tone. If you absolutely can't get a guitar to sound good, it may be that you just don't like the tone of the guitar in the first place. Hell, sometimes you need a Rectifier to distort your guitar beyond recognition.
Tubes
Preamp - I don't have a 100% understanding of different preamp tubes with other setups. I know the following to be true with my settings, so take it at that. V1 needs to be clear. Chinese are great at doing that, and although a NOS Tesla sounds a little better, a good Chinese tube will suffice. V2 can be a little raunchy since it's your main gain tube. Brighter will do well here, though a bright tube with bad tone will not. V3 is more important than I first expected. You need to be careful here because of the high voltage, so don't put your LPS in this spot. Apart from that, darker tubes will work well to tame the highs of the gain and turn your amp's tone into gold. V4 is the FX loop. Use something clear; Chinese is great. V5 is the phase inverter. I have a NOS Tesla here that sounds phenomenal, but I've also liked the LPS in this spot. Be sure to get a good sounding tube in this spot. Trying out a few different ones - even of the same model - doesn't hurt. V6 is purely for the clean channel. I like a darker tube here to help the clean channel sound less brittle.
Power - I've heard a few different types of power tubes here, and while nearly any kind can sound really good, my favorite is the SED =C= EL34. Seems to have a rich midrange that can get a little swirly when pushed. The key with power tubes is that they're biased correctly. I've had JJ E34Ls in mine and even they sounded great when they were biased correctly. You'll want at least 30mA, and I run mine at 34. I've found that as long as they're not running so hot that it cuts into the amp's definition, you're safe. Realize that the bias can creep up over the course of your playing time, so check it again after having the amp on for an hour or so.
There are four things I've left out: Green boost, Old / New, Structure, and Class A/AB. I hate the Green boost and have never found it to sound good. Structure I haven't played around with as mine is always on H. Old / New is always at New for me, though I do like Old (I think it's a matter of adjusting presence to run it effectively), and I don't have the Class A/AB switch.
If there's anything you feel should be added to this, feel free to critique. It's taken me a bit of time to write out, but I hope that it will help at least someone! Although I appreciate the manual on the Bogner site, I feel like what I've written gives more insight to how the controls work rather than their strict function. Anyway, I'm done writing now!
It's been about 1 1/2 years since I bought my Ecstasy. I've learned a lot, and in this thread I'm going to post what I do to make my 101b sound its absolute best.
Settings:
Green
This channel is much better than a lot of people give it credit for. I find with the right combination of gear, it pulls off some excellent clean tones.
Brightness & Gain - B1 here, no contest. B2 is very shrill and N too lifeless. Set the channel up with B1 and turn the gain up just before breakup. You get the V6 preamp tube working a little bit, with just enough compression to fill in the notes.
TMB - You'll want to adjust these settings to taste, obviously, but here's an important hint: don't turn the mids down too low! It may sound good by itself, but in context of the Blue and Red channels, will not work. Moreover, you need mids to be heard in a mix. Apart from that, don't add too much bass and you're set.
Presence & Excursion - Adding presence to this channel can be a great idea. If you find a lack of shimmer with the gain turned up a little higher, use presence to make up for it. This way, you still get your nice chimey clean tone with your compression. It stays lush instead of brittle. I find T excursion to work best at higher volumes. If you do want to accent the lower mids, M or even L will work, but watch your bass knob and turn your presence up.
Blue & Red
These channels are where it's at for me. I don't find any advantage in setting them up differently from each other, minus a few adjustments, but I have more to say on their application after listing settings.
Brightness - B2 is what I like best. It seems to focus on a frequency higher than what most guitars will accentuate, and contributes to how the amp opens up. It also seems to give a bit more definition to palm mutes and makes for an excellent chug. B1 - because it focuses on a frequency that guitars accentuate - is great for providing lots of gain. I find the overall tone to be less appealing than B2 - namely more fizz, compressed, nasally, etc. - but if for some reason I needed more gain - which the boosted Red channel on B2 has more than enough for me - I would consider B1. Or, if I had a hopelessly dark guitar with weak pickups, it might be a decent alternative. N sounds good too, but only if used carefully. A dark guitar will create mud here, and it will be least useful for very high gain. I might use N if I had, for example, a very bright Strat that I wasn't trying to OD too much. Read purring blues. For 90% of my applications though, it's B2. Not only does it sound excellent, but it seems to really bring out the best feel and tone of each guitar. Awesome.
Gain - With the brightness switches engaged, the tone gets brighter as you turn the gain knob down. If you need lower gain for either channel, N or B2 will probably sound best. Since I primarily use B2, I typically turn my gain knobs up pretty high. In the Blue channel, I like unboosted blue to sound best with the neck position of my guitars so that they're just past breakup. With single coils, this puts my gain at 3:00. Humbuckers end up between 1:30 and 3:00, towards 3:00 if I want more chunk with the bridge pickup. For blending purposes, I usually run Red gain a little lower than Blue. Typically, I'll set Red up around 2:00 and this brings me into perfect solo territory with the boost.
TMB - How you set these controls depends largely on the room and cab of your choice. A rule of thumb I use is to listen to the amp from as many angles as possible. I will usually, though, run the controls here or somewhere close: 11:00 T, 1:00 M, 12:00 B. I love mids, but I don't want so much that the feel of the amp diminishes. 1:00 is a sweet spot for me, but up to 2:30 still sounds great to my ears. Just depends on the situation! I find that if I leave mids at 1:00 though, I can set treble and bass around mids and it'll work out well.
Excursion & Presence - I group these controls because of how I run them. At low volumes, I find M or L excursion can fill out the amp well, but I then need to turn up presence to compensate. When I'm running the amp at a medium to higher volume, T gives off that nice, upper mid bite. I'd compare it to a Marshall, but it's the voice of the Ecstasy, not the JCM800. When I do this, I can turn presence up to noon without getting too bright, but find that it sounds better completely off. On the whole, I've found that raising the excursion to L or M forces you to raise Treble. Essentially, you're lowering upper mids since you're raising everything else. That has its place, but I prefer the upper mid bite.
Blue & Red Use -Important to note is that there are fewer gain stages in the Blue channel than Red. I've found that when the two channels are set up to have the same amount of gain (boosted Blue vs. unboosted Red), this translates to a slightly more open sound in the Blue channel. Since I set up boosted Blue to have about the same amount of gain as unboosted Red (out of coincidence, not deliberate), I'll use Blue for more neck pickup work and Red for bridge. Of course, there's not much of a difference and for a gig I wouldn't worry about it, but it's helpful in a recording situation.
Plexi Mode - Sometimes I'll run a lower gain set and replace the Red channel with Plexi mode. I find that this sounds best for stuff right on the brink of breakup. Then I can have completely clean on the Green channel, Red for Plexi, and Blue for medium to somewhat higher gain. Works great! You can set Blue up to sound like Plexi, but because Plexi has even fewer gain stages than the Blue channel (2 vs Blue's 3), it has a different feel.
Cabinet:
4x12s sound best. End of story. I've played through a few and for me, the Bogner sounds better than the others (as it should), though many other sound damn good. I use G12Ms in mine and it's a match made in heaven. For other cab and speaker use, the only thing I would change is the TMB controls. These are very effective in making different cabs sound great, and while the other controls can change tone drastically, I like to think of them as creating the feel of the amp rather than how much bass or treble is in my tone. At the very least, I'd start with TMB before messing with anything else. It's worked well for me so far.
Guitars and Pickups:
This one is tricky. Any type of guitar will theoretically sound great with this amp, but finding the right setup isn't always easy. This is partly because of how revealing the Ecstasy is. On the whole though, I've had more trouble with overly bright guitars than dark. Don't underestimate the power in the gain knob. Some guitars I've used that are way too bright with lower gain have worked out really well with higher gain. Another trick I use to get bright guitars to thicken up is to lower the pickups. Bring them away from the strings as you bring the gain up, and you should get a much more desirable, less brittle tone. If you absolutely can't get a guitar to sound good, it may be that you just don't like the tone of the guitar in the first place. Hell, sometimes you need a Rectifier to distort your guitar beyond recognition.
Tubes
Preamp - I don't have a 100% understanding of different preamp tubes with other setups. I know the following to be true with my settings, so take it at that. V1 needs to be clear. Chinese are great at doing that, and although a NOS Tesla sounds a little better, a good Chinese tube will suffice. V2 can be a little raunchy since it's your main gain tube. Brighter will do well here, though a bright tube with bad tone will not. V3 is more important than I first expected. You need to be careful here because of the high voltage, so don't put your LPS in this spot. Apart from that, darker tubes will work well to tame the highs of the gain and turn your amp's tone into gold. V4 is the FX loop. Use something clear; Chinese is great. V5 is the phase inverter. I have a NOS Tesla here that sounds phenomenal, but I've also liked the LPS in this spot. Be sure to get a good sounding tube in this spot. Trying out a few different ones - even of the same model - doesn't hurt. V6 is purely for the clean channel. I like a darker tube here to help the clean channel sound less brittle.
Power - I've heard a few different types of power tubes here, and while nearly any kind can sound really good, my favorite is the SED =C= EL34. Seems to have a rich midrange that can get a little swirly when pushed. The key with power tubes is that they're biased correctly. I've had JJ E34Ls in mine and even they sounded great when they were biased correctly. You'll want at least 30mA, and I run mine at 34. I've found that as long as they're not running so hot that it cuts into the amp's definition, you're safe. Realize that the bias can creep up over the course of your playing time, so check it again after having the amp on for an hour or so.
There are four things I've left out: Green boost, Old / New, Structure, and Class A/AB. I hate the Green boost and have never found it to sound good. Structure I haven't played around with as mine is always on H. Old / New is always at New for me, though I do like Old (I think it's a matter of adjusting presence to run it effectively), and I don't have the Class A/AB switch.
If there's anything you feel should be added to this, feel free to critique. It's taken me a bit of time to write out, but I hope that it will help at least someone! Although I appreciate the manual on the Bogner site, I feel like what I've written gives more insight to how the controls work rather than their strict function. Anyway, I'm done writing now!
i'm gonna go print this out and tape it onto the top of my amp head. 
